Georgia–Romania Black Sea HVDC Project Advances
Georgian State Electrosystem (GSE) has signed two significant agreements in February 2026, marking a step-change in the development pace of the Black Sea Submarine Cable (BSSC) Project — a proposed HVDC interconnection that would link the South Caucasus directly to the European grid.
On 4 February 2026, Romania's national transmission operator Transelectrica and GSE signed a Memorandum of Understanding in Bucharest, setting out a framework for coordinated planning, technical studies, marine surveys, environmental and social assessments, and joint financing and institutional representation at European and international levels. Transelectrica CEO Ștefăniță Munteanu described the signing as reflecting "the maturity and significant progress" achieved by the project and confirmed Romania's commitment to developing it as a regional energy hub.
Then, on 26 February, Italian energy consultancy CESI hosted a contract signing ceremony at its Milan headquarters with GSE General Director Vano Zardiashvili, attended by Georgia's Consul General Natalia Kordzaia and representatives of the World Bank. Under the contract, CESI will take responsibility for the design, procurement, and supervision of seabed surveys beneath the Black Sea — work that encompasses geophysical and geotechnical studies of the seabed, as well as environmental compliance oversight.
The project, as currently specified, would run 1,195 km between Anaklia on Georgia's Black Sea coast and Constanța in Romania, of which approximately 1,100 km would be submarine. The HVDC cable is designed to operate at ±500 kV with a transmission capacity of 1,000–1,500 MW.
The project's origins trace to a feasibility study commissioned in April 2022 and carried out by CESI, which identified the cable route and converter station locations. In December 2022, the governments of Azerbaijan, Georgia, Romania, and Hungary formalised the initiative through a Strategic Partnership Agreement on green energy, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen present at the signing. The project has since been included in ENTSO-E's Ten-Year Network Development Plans for 2022 and 2024, and in December 2025 it was added to the EU's list of Projects of Mutual Interest (PMI).
Financing support is coming from the World Bank, which approved a $35 million loan in May 2024 under its ESPIRE (Enhancing Energy Security through Power Interconnection and Renewable Energy) Programme. The ESPIRE programme is structured in three phases, with a potential total envelope of up to $500 million, covering preparatory work, domestic transmission grid strengthening in Georgia, and ultimately the submarine cable itself. Georgia has also allocated GEL 25 million in its 2026 national budget for geological survey work related to the project.
The cable's primary purpose is to enable the export of Azerbaijani renewable energy — principally wind and solar — via Georgia into the EU grid through Romania, supporting European energy security and diversification objectives. A parallel fibre-optic cable is also planned to run alongside the power cable, improving digital connectivity between the South Caucasus and Europe.
The estimated cost of the project stands at approximately €2.3 billion. If completed, it would become the world's longest submarine power cable, surpassing the 724 km North Sea Link between Norway and the United Kingdom.
